Brammo releases 100MPH, 100-mile range electric bikes

The new Empluse & Empulse R could pull motorcycle riders away from the gas station to the chargers

Almost two years after announcing the intent to create a line of 6-speed electric motorcycles that could reach 100 MPH and have a 100-range, Brammo has released its Empulse series.

The Oregon-based startup has just released the pricing and availability for the Empulse and Empulse R bikes.

The baseline Empulse is priced at $16,995 and the Empulse R tags on an additional $2,000 for some higher-end components such as carbon fiber accessories on the fenders, headlight shroud and tank. 

A limited run of the Empulse R are due in June and, based on demand, could reach full production sometime in Q3. The Empulse isn't going to be ready until the start of 2013.  

The motorcycle company has been trying to inject sex appeal into the electric vehicle market and, back in October, fueled up with a $28 million second round of funding.

This latest series of bikes have 9.3 kilowatt batteries that allow riders to be back on the road in 3.5 hours and are still roughly the same price as their gas- guzzling counterparts. 

Brammo's current shareholders: Alpine Energy and Polaris Industries, NorthPort Investments LLC are also strategic experts for the companies efforts to improve energy tech.  Polaris currently designs and manufactures off-road vehicles and last year clocked in sales near $2 billion and Brammo could more easily collaborate with them to learn from the electronic technology that goes into ATVs and snowmobiles.

From the Polaris and Brammo partnership, Brammo is also gaining access to the electronics manufacturer Flextronics, which will optimize that supply chain and improve the battery packaging technology for the motorcycle company. This is the scaling connection that Brammo has needed to really gain traction in the EV market.